MAP #: 268M4
CARTOGRAPHER : MASON, CHARLES & DIXON, JEREMIAH
DATE: 1768
SHORT TITLE : A PLAN OF THE WEST LINE
REMAINING TITLE & ID : OR PARALLEL OF LATITUDE. WHICH IS THE BOUNDARY BETWEEN THE PROVINCES OF MARYLAND AND PENSLVANIA (CARTOUCHE, UPPER RIGHT CORNER). "J. SMITHER SCULPS.T" (BELOW AND AT RIGHT OF CARTOUCHE). A SCALE OF 20 MILES (BELOW EASTERN END OF WEST LINE). EIGHT POINTED COMPASS ROSE (ABOVE EASTERN END OF WEST LINE). THE CARTOUCHE IS SURROUNDED ON RIGHT AND LEFT BY TREES AND INDIAN FIGURES. THE BOTTOM OF THE CARTOUCHE SHOWS SURVEYING INSTRUMENTS AND A SMALL REPRODUCTION OF THIS BOUNDARY MAP. MILE MARKERS ARE SHOWN EVERY 5 MILES ALONG THE BOUNDARY LINE. THERE IS NOTHING ON THE REVERSE SIDE. LONGITUDE AND LATITUDE (NOT SHOWN).
AN INSPECTION OF THE WESTERN LINE SHOWS AN INDIAN WARPATH WHICH MASON AND DIXON'S INDIAN GUIDES WOULD NOT GO PAST. IT WAS NOT UNTIL 1784 THAT THE REMAINING 36 MILES, ALL BETWEEN PENNSYLVANIA AND VIRGINIA, WERE SURVEYED.
THE ENGRAVING OF THE SURVEY WAS STARTED BY HENRY DAWKINS, WHO IT WAS THOUGHT ENGRAVED THE EASTERN SHEET IN ITS ENTIRETY AND SOME OF THIS WESTERN SHEET. IN JULY, 1768, FOR UNKNOWN REASONS, DAWKINS WITHDREW FROM THE PROJECT AND THE WORK WAS COMPLETED BY JAMES SMITHER, ALSO FROM PHILADELPHIA. THE MAP WAS PRINTED BY ROBERT KENNEDY OF PHILADELPHIA.
THE ENGRAVING HAD TO BE DONE IN THREE STRIPS FOR THIS WESTERN SHEET BECAUSE IT WOULD HAVE BEEN TOO CUMBERSOME IF IT WAS CONTINUOUS. THE EASTERN SHEET WAS OF A SHAPE THAT COULD BE CONTINUOUSLY ENGRAVED. IT IS INTERESTING TO NOTE THAT THE OLD SPELLING OF "PENSYLVANIA" IS USED ON THE WESTERN SHEET AND THE NEWER "PENNSYLVANIA" IS USED ON THE EASTERN SHEET.
DATA IS FROM THE CHRISTIE, MANSON & WOODS CATALOG, FROM WAINWRIGHT AND FROM MATHEWS.
EDITION & STATE INFO : THE MANUSCRIPT DRAWINGS FOR BOTH SHEETS (OF WHICH THIS IS ONE) OF THE MASON-DIXON LINE MAP STILL EXIST. THE EASTERN HALF (DESCRIBED IN PRINTED FORM - SEE MAP # 268M3) IS LOCATED AT PRINCETON UNIVERSITY. THE WESTERN HALF WAS BOUGHT AT THE AUCTION OF THE CHEW FAMILY PAPERS IN 1982 BY MALCOMB FORBES. ONLY A SINGLE EDITION OF THE TWO-PLATE MAP WAS MADE, BUT THERE WERE A NUMBER OF VARIANTS. SOME REMAINED AS THEY WERE PRINTED AND OTHERS (ESPECIALLY THE WESTERN SHEET) WERE CUT AND PASTED. THE VARIANTS DEPEND IMPORTANTLY ON HOW THEY WERE CUT AND JOINED. ON SOME COPIES, THE CARTOUCHE FOR THE WESTERN LINE WAS DISCARDED AND ON OTHERS IT WAS PASTED TO THE JOINED MAP IN VARIOUS PLACES. THE CHEW FAMILY PAPERS CONTAINED 22 COPIES OF THE ORIGINAL 200 THAT WERE PRINTED BY ROBERT KENNEDY OF PHILADELPHIA. THOSE WERE EITHER SOLD AT AUCTION OR DONATED BY THE FAMILY TO VARIOUS INSTITUTIONS.
THE MOST NOTABLE VARIANTS ARE THOSE USED FOR OFFICIAL COPIES. THESE HAVE AN ELEVEN-LINE, HANDWRITTEN CERTIFICATE BENEATH THE WEST LINE (ON THE WEST SHEET), FOLLOWED BY TWELVE SIGNATURES AND WAX SEALS IN TWO ROWS. TO THE RIGHT OF THE CERTIFICATE IS A HANDWRITTEN INK EXPLANATION OR KEY TO SIX LETTERS OR LETTER PAIRS WHICH INDICATED KEY POINTS ON THE SURVEY. BENEATH THE EXPLANATION IS A HINGED PIECE OF PAPER LABELLED ON THE VERSO "A MAP OF THE PROVINCIAL LINES UNDER Ye HAND & SEALS OF THE COMMs. OF MARYLAND & PENNSYLVANIA. N.B. SEVl. DUPLICATES SENT TO BOTH PROPs. IN ENGLAND 1768." ONE OFFICIAL COPY, NOW AT THE MARYLAND HISTORICAL SOCIETY, IS WITHOUT THE WEST LINE CARTOUCHE. ANOTHER SIMILAR COPY IS AT THE HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF PENNSYLVANIA. A THIRD OFFICIAL COPY, SOLD AT THE CHEW FAMILY PAPERS AUCTION, HAS THE WESTERN CARTOUCHE AT THE CENTER LEFT OF THE MAP, WHICH IS JOINED INTO A SINGLE SHEET.
HFC OWNERSHIP DATA : HFC HAS A COPY OF THIS MAP WHICH HAS A NUMBER OF TEARS AND REPAIRS. ONE SECTION OF THE TOP STRIP ON THE SHEET IS MISSING AND HAS BEEN REPAIRED WITH SOME PAPER SHOWING A RELIGIOUS FIGURE, WHEN HELD UP TO THE LIGHT. THE HFC COPY, ACQUIRED THROUGH RICHARD ARKWAY, WAS ORIGINALLY IN THE RARE BOOKS AND SPECIAL COLLECTIONS SECTION OF THE PRINCETON UNIVERSITY LIBRARY AND IS ILLUSTRATED IN FIG. 109B, SCHWARTZ & EHRENBERG'S THE MAPPING OF AMERICA, P. 179.
BIBLIGRAPHICAL REFS. : CHRISTIE, MANSON AND WOODS INTERNATIONAL, INC., CATALOG OF SALE 5131, COLONIAL AMERICAN DOCUMENTS...FROM THE CHEW FAMILY PAPERS, NEW YORK: CHRISTIE,MANSON AND WOODS INTERNATIONAL, 1982; BALTIMORE MUSEUM OF ART, THE WORLD ENCOMPASSED: AN EXHIBITION OF THE HISTORY OF MAPS, BALTIMORE: TRUSTEES OF THE WALTERS ART GALLERY, 1952, NO. 245; PAPENFUSE AND COALE, THE HAMMOND-HARWOOD HOUSE ATLAS OF HISTORICAL MAPS OF MARYLAND 1608-1908, BALTIMORE: THE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY PRESS, 1982, FIG. 43 AND PP. 40-41; SCHWARTZ AND EHRENBERG, THE MAPPING OF AMERICA, NEW YORK: HARRY N. ABRAMS, 1980,PL. 109A, 109B AND PP. 168-169; MARYLAND HISTORICAL SOCIETY, THE MAPPING OF MARYLAND 1590-1914: AN OVERVIEW, BALTIMORE:MARYLAND HISTORICAL SOCIETY, 1982, FIG. 33 AND PP. 31-32; MATHEWS, E.B., BIBLIOGRAPHY AND CARTOGRAPHY OF MARYLAND INCLUDING PUBLICATIONS RELATING TO THE PHYSIOGRAPHY, GEOLOGY, AND MINERAL RESOURCES.", MARYLAND GEOLOGICAL SURVEY VOL. 1, BALTIMORE, JOHNS HOPKINS PRESS, 1897, P. 351; MATHEWS, E.B., THE MAPS AND MAP-MAKERS OF MARYLAND, MARYLAND GEOLOGICAL SURVEY VOL. 2, BALTIMORE:MARYLAND GEOLOGICAL SURVEY, 1908, PP. 433-437; WAINWRIGHT, N.B., "TALE OF A RUNAWAY CAPE: THE PENN-BALTIMORE AGREEMENT OF 1732", THE PENNSYLVANIA MAGAZINE OF HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY 87 (JULY, 1963): PP. 286-290; STREETER, VOL. II, PP. 714,716,717.
March 21, 1988
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